The Deal Dash Webinar: Olympic Standards with Katie Hoff

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the SSNC Intralinks Dealdash webinar series brought to you by SSNC Intralinks and All Day Running Co. My name is Bill Lane, I'm AVP of Sales here at SSNC Intralinks and I will be your moderator today. For those of you who are not familiar with the Dealdash webinar series, it's an exclusive, exclusive collection of webinars, newsletters, in person media, meetups and a global step challenge all designed to bring together the deal making community in a new and creative way. SSNC Intralinks platform connects a global network of around 5.5 million users including bankers, corporates, private equity professionals, lawyers, accountants, consultants and more.

And through this webinar series hosted in partnership with All Day Running Co, we aim to foster a deeper community and connections within that deal making community and express our appreciation to our valued customers, our users and our employees with a blend of learning and enjoyment. So we're excited to kick this off today. And one quick housekeeping item before we get started, feel free to submit any questions into our chat box in the webinar at any time. We'll have 10 to 15 minutes at the end to discuss Q&A with our with our guest speaker today. And without further ado, let me introduce our guest speaker, Olympic medalist, World champion and podcast host Katie Hoff.

Now a little bit more about Katie. Katie is a two time Olympian, a three time Olympic medalist and eight time world champion, a three time record holder and a two time USOC Sportswoman of the Year. Hoff was the youngest member of the US team for all sports in 2004 at just 15 years old. She currently holds the oldest female American record on the books, with her American record in the woman's 400 IM, which she set in June of 2008. Hoff was known for her versatility in the sport of swimming and at one point held the American record in nine different events since retirement due to a pulmonary embolism in her lung in 2014, Hoff started off on her own adventures in her own company called Synergy Dry Land with her husband Todd, which empowers thousands of elite swimmers around the country and around the world to swim their fastest with improved mobility, power and strength.

Katie also serves as a head ambassador for the National Blood Clot Alliance and is a frequent speaker to companies to inspire them to persevere, attack their goals no matter what the circumstances are. Recently, she and her Olympic teammate, Missy Franklin started a podcast called Unfiltered Waters, where they provide a safe space for athletes to share their untold stories in a comfortable and vulnerable way. So please join me in welcoming Katie, who will share her insights on five key standards that helped her shatter her world records, rebuild after setbacks, and achieve greatness. So, Katie, over to you. Thank you, Bill.

Can you just like, be by my bedside and read that to me every morning? Happy to record it for you. Well, thank you everyone. Yeah, as you heard in my intro, I achieved my lifelong dream of being an Olympian 2 months after my 15th birthday. So any parents out there, if you have children that are teenagers or approaching 15, imagine them being shipped off to a different country and representing Team USA before they can even drive. It was, it was a really wild experience and I actually defied the odds even further of being a .70000000007% of humanity that got to stand on the podium and represent my country and become an Olympic medalist.

And when I look back, like winning Olympic medals, breaking world records, it really only happened because I abided by very specific targeted ways of just being. And at 15 years old, you, you don't really understand why. Some of it was innate, some of it was because I was extremely coachable. But when my career was cut short, as I was looking ahead to making my third Olympic team, I had a blood clot, and I'll talk more about that in my lung. And it was extremely devastating, cut my career short and really forced me to take a look back and understand how did I accomplish all these things?

How did I become the world best? And when you're looking into life after swimming, it can be very, very stressful, filled with, you know, days of depression. Because I, I didn't know how to then take all these insane skills and standards that I lived by for over 2 decades into life, as I we all call it, as a swammer. But I feel like it's actually become my superpower because I know what it feels like to start over. I think a lot of people could have looked at me if I didn't have this step back and didn't have, you know, a pulmonary embolism in my lungs and say, like, oh, at 9 years old, you knew that you wanted to be an Olympian.

You worked really hard, you accomplished it like not easy, but kind of a really perfect straight line path. And that's as we all know, sitting here is not life like thirsty curveballs. Life's not the exact blueprint you set of art to be. And so it really forced me to then create these standards that I share with people all over the world to to understand how to be successful as an adult and as someone who wants to continue success and and feeling extraordinary after sport. So really my goal today is to share these standards with you in hopes that one or all can resonate to just help you live a more extraordinary life.

So my first one is being savage in the essentials. And when I say savage, I think people can associate that word as maybe being like aggressive or negative. But I've used savage is just really holding on to every single thing that you want in this life and defining those things very early because you cannot, even the most successful people on the planet cannot be savage if they don't understand why they're being savage. And so I think the first step in that is understanding a goal that's not just a want, but it's a need. Like it's burning in your soul and you, you sleep, breathe, eat, you wake up in the morning thinking about it.

And sometimes that can be really difficult because you might be sitting there going, I don't know if I have a, a need goal. And that is totally OK because I've had times in my life where I haven't had that and I've had to just keep trudging forward and understanding that sometimes those little things are adding up to get you to that goal when you're you're really gripped by that need goal, as I call it. So for me, when I was swimming, my essentials were first of all, pull ups. Second of all, being early. So the four, the five people who are here early, I don't know your names, but I'm going to find out because you guys are living my life.

I love being early. I think it helps you prepare for everything. And I just think that if you're on time, you're late. No offense to people who are on time today, but I think for me, it was making sure that I was prepped before every single session, every single start to the day. And then pull ups as you guys, I don't know if you guys watch the Olympics or the World Championships going on right now, but upper body and lats for swimmers is everything when it comes to being the best. So for me, you know, really being able to rock out pull ups every single day was a huge part of my confidence.

You know, when I'm standing behind the blocks of the Olympic Games, terrified, I would call upon how many pull ups I could do, which it was 17 by the way, and and that would fuel my confidence. So when I say being savage, I mean like at all costs, like you would not, I'm not advising killing people, but like you would do anything to accomplish that goal. So when I was, I made my first Olympic team at 15, when I was 14 years old, obviously my mom was driving me to some practice. Shout out my mom for getting up at 5:00 in the morning to drive me.

And I every single Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I would do three sets of 10 pull ups like rain or shine, no matter how I felt I would, I would do this as a 10 pull ups. And this particular Friday, there was a lot going on at the pool. My coach, like had had taught, needed to talk to me. And so she picked me up and I was running late. So I ran out of the car and we lived about 45 minutes away from the pool. It was a long drive and we're about halfway back, like 2324 minutes back.

And like a lightning bolt that hit me that I had forgotten to do the pull ups and I gasped way more dramatically than I should have. My mom like almost like went off there. She's like, what? What happened? I'm like, mom, I forgot my pull ups. Like you have to turn back. And she's like, sweetie, it's fine. Like, can you just do them tomorrow? I'm like, no, like turn the car around. Like, we have to do the pull ups. And again, parents, I'm not a parent yet.

I'm hoping to be soon. But, you know, imagine it's 7:00 PM on a Friday. You've had a long week. You have dinner in the oven. Like you're not wanting to add another hour on because your daughter wants to do her pull ups. But credit to my mom, she understood that pull ups were a huge source of my confidence. And so I had her turn the car around, drive all the way back. I ran in and at this point the pull up bar was actually in a coat closet with like a coat.

Like there's like a Coke machine. And when you hear about Olympians accomplishing great things, you probably think like state-of-the-art facilities and trainers and like glistening pool. And no, this was literally like you can accomplish big dreams no matter where you are. And so I went into this Coke closet, popped out my three sets of 10 pull ups, got back in the car and put a big check on the day. And I share that story because it still sticks with me today like that. Maybe if I done pull ups on Saturday, maybe I still have gone to the Olympics and won Olympic medals.

But that's not what it's about, right? The essentials are things that help you in your heart, feel confident, feel proud, feel equipped to take on these big goals. So I asked you guys like, think about what your essentials are. And they don't have to be like a long list of 10 or 20 things or I think sometimes the Internet or things we read, it's like, Oh my gosh, I have to do a million things to be a successful human. I think it's two or three where you are willing to turn the car around for you're willing to sacrifice whatever because you know in your heart specifically customized to you, it's going to fuel you to feel your best self and be confident.

So I still don't do pull ups. I saw a question I'm just going to answer. I still do pull ups daily, but I'll get to that. And I'm about to kind of venture back into some pull ups. But nowadays I just really love fitting into a dress without my lats busting out at the seams. That's been nice. But back then that that was that was everything that I could do. The other one is being on time and so another. I feel like all my stories happen with my parents driving me to practice because that was I was in the car multiple hours a day but I would always get behind the blocks 10 minutes before practice started no matter what.

It didn't matter if someone was in the middle of a conversation with me like I would be lying to behind the blocks and I would have double S on Saturday. So my poor parents. So we would go in the morning, I have a 2 hour practice, I'd rest, I'd come back and then I'd have two hours again on a Saturday afternoon. And this particular day, my dad was driving me. And I always thought that we got off on exit 25 and my dad starts to put his blinker on to get over to exit 24. And I like grabbed my dad's arm gently.

And I was like, dad, like, what are you? What are you doing? Like you cannot get off on that exit. If you get off on that exit, we're going to be late. Everything's going to be ruined. It's, it's awful. It's awful. Don't do it. He was like, no, sweetie, like that's not correct. Like it's, it's exit 24. And I'm like, no, it's exit 25. And then the most panic came over me.

And this again was an essential. So do or die. I turned to my dad and I looked him dead in the face. And I said, Dad, if you do not continue on to exit 25, I'm going to RIP the steering wheel out of your hands. I know, don't judge me, but I'm telling you this story because that I mean, that was such an essential for me that I was willing to get us in a car accident. Spoiler I didn't. I came to my senses and realized that I am the worst with directions and I was completely wrong.

I didn't, I was wrong. My dad was correct and we got to practice on time and all was good. But I'm demonstrating what are the things in your life, your essentials that you will be that savage for? Because you know when you're standing up before a big meeting or you're, you know, getting in front of your kids and telling them about, you know, why they need to be dedicated or whatever it might be in your life. A marathon, if you're coming to all day running, the running man like getting your first 10K and whatever that big moment is for you, what are your essentials and how savage are you willing to be to hold on to them and that no one will RIP them out of your hands.

So that for me has stayed true. Now it's shifted a little bit. I'm not causing car accidents or doing a million pull ups. You see this picture here? I'm cold plunging. And if you're in the all day running Co hemisphere, you definitely cold plunge. And if you haven't and you're sitting there going, I could never, you can, you can. It's 3 minutes of discomfort. It's really cold, but nothing bad will happen to you. And for me, I start my day and I've already conquered something really, really difficult and uncomfortable.

And so, you know, an annoying e-mail or my husband not taking out the trash or little things that just kind of get you irritated in the day don't matter. And I feel like it really creates a sense of calm and allows me to again, tackle the day. And that's become an essential for me as well. Like last Christmas, my husband and I even cut a hole in the ice and did it because we didn't have a cold plunge. So we did a cold plunge in nature. So I'm not saying that everyone has to cold plunge, but finding your again, essentials, your hard things is what it's about.

And it's the, to me, the key to success, to allowing you to remain consistent in your journey to your goals. Second one is not preserving your reserve. And a lot of people talk about this, right? It's either, you know, David Goggins talks about always having that extra. I think it's like 60% and there's another 40% in the tank. You know, for me, it was just constantly questioning, like each day, each effort. I would say, you know, is that truly everything you have?

Like, did you truly empty the tank? And it's a really hard question to ask yourself, right? Because you're basically saying like, did I was out today? You know, you're having to be really honest with yourself. And sometimes even professional athletes, Olympians, the answer is, yeah. Like I, I didn't give it everything I had today. But I, I would argue that the successful people and the people that, you know, achieve incredible, extraordinary things win that battle 9 times out of 10. And it takes you asking that question to make sure that you're ensuring ultimate effort. And this isn't just physical, right? This is like you, you know, when you end the day and you're like, man, like I, you know, I could have done better on that presentation.

I could have been more thorough in that meeting. I, you know, I could have spent extra 10 minutes with my kids playing soccer. Like there's all those times where life is really hard and there's a lot that we're all juggling. And I think asking that simple question goes a really long way. And I learned this back when I was, you know, training for my second Olympic team, I every Saturday morning for us was like a really big, like race day. It's when we were checking in and, and seeing where we were at. And on this particular morning, I'm sore, my lungs are screaming.

I the alarm went off. And like, I did not want to get up. I did. I was in such a bad mood. And I remember getting to the pool and my coach gave me paces that were essentially American record pace, like the fastest anyone has ever done for 10 repeats. And you guys can probably not relate to the American record pace, but relate to coming in and getting, you know, getting an assignment or waking up and your kids waking you up at like 3:00 in the morning and you're just being dead. Like there's times when we're just tired and you want to roll over and you want to give up.

And I called upon, no, like, I, I can do this. It's good. And essentially for all 10 repeats, which it's 200 yards. So for non swimmers, it's like a 2 minute repeat as fast as you can 10 times. And for if you're, so, if you're a runner that's going around the track 2 times as fast as you can. And I missed pace on all 10, all 10. And the devastation that was in my heart, I can't even describe to you. And my mom picked me up.

I'm super depressed. I come back and I sat there and I was like, no, no, I'm not. I'm not. I clearly, I clearly have reserve left. I, there's no way that I can not finish this day. I know that this is just going to be like in my head and I'm going to be thinking about it behind the blocks of World Championships or at the Olympic Games. And I can't stand for this. So I called my coach up.

This is practice number nine of the week. Our #22 and I, I'm now the age that my coach was back then when I was 16. So a Saturday night is like a great time to socialize. And so now I know how big of a deal this was. I called him up and I said, coach, like, I am not OK with that set. I feel like I have more in me and I want to do it again. And he was like, OK, yeah, like I can, I can program it into next week.

No worries. I'm like, no, no, no, like I want to go back to the pool and I want to do it again today. I was like a really long pause on the phone and he's like, OK, so we went. I, I spent two hours napping, getting ready and now looking back, I'm like what 16 year old calls up her coach asked to come back the same day and do the hardest that ever all over again. But it was just like, in my heart, I was like, I, I know I have something left. And so I got in.

I don't know what miracle I thought was going to happen in the course of three hours because I still felt absolutely sore, tired, terrible. But I just had this mindset shift and I was like, no, I have more left. I know it's there. It's going to hurt really bad, but I can do this. And I ended up hitting pace for all 10 repeats and it hurt like hell. It was the most uncomfortable thing ever. But that day taught me that we all have something left.

We just have to ask ourselves and force ourselves to maybe do it over again, or maybe get up earlier or prepare better if we all have that extra reserve again. If the goal is a need versus a want, we're going to go there. But if you're sitting there going like, I just, I don't think I have reserve, then maybe the goal is just doesn't mean enough to you or maybe it just doesn't resonate enough. And so for me, I was, I just realized, wow, like I have the ability to go there. And you see this picture here, it's after the New York Marathon and I had to call upon that same reserve now in my swammer life.

And if any of you have run a marathon, you know that that 20 mile mark, everyone talks about it like what's when the race started, right? It's when the race starts. And I never understood that. I was like, what are you talking about? 20 miles in? Like, how could that be possible? Yep, 20 miles IT man tightens up stabbing pain in my knee and I'm sitting there going I that's it. Like I'm done. Like I've trained for months on then I'm done. And I basically called upon that muscle that I learned at 16 years old is I've got more and I'm not going to just stop at mile 20.

Are you kidding me? So I basically figured out that if I straightened out my right leg, I wouldn't have a shooting pain in my knee. But like, literally, we're generating tears down my face and I can just run like a pirate who has a peg leg for the final six miles. And that's what I did. My husband went to video me on the 1st, me coming across the finish line, and he lowered the camera because he said it looked so awful. But who cares how you look? I finished, I accomplished, you know, a marathon, which for a swimmer who's a fish out of water is a huge accomplishment.

But these things carry over like the the lesson of the standard that I learned at 16 years old, just locked into play when I needed it. And I think that's the beauty of all these standards is that once they're a part of you, once you've practiced it and becomes a habit, it's almost like it's just the subconscious superpower that comes into play. And when I needed it most, I didn't even consider quitting. It wasn't even, it wasn't even a realm of possibility. And so I'm so grateful for that muscle and that standard because life's hard enough to have something switch on just like a superpower.

It is pretty special and, and really, I think guarantees accomplishing anything that you really set your heart to. So fail big armor. This one, this this photo was when you Googled Katie Hoff in 2004. This was the Google image that popped up for about a year. Not ideal for think about when you were 15 and you were so insecure about your looks and what people thought of you. And I'm still, I still care about people like me. But this was really, really a difficult moment in my life.

I, you know, I made my first Olympic team at 15. You guys have heard me say that, but it was the scariest thing ever to fly across the country to Athens. Grace. Be away from my parents for more than six weeks. I'd only been away from them for three days before that. Be on a team with adults. I don't think people realize this, but at the Olympic Games, you're on a team with 30 year olds who are married and have, you know, an adult life.

And I'm sitting here 15 worrying about my, you know, algebra test, don't have my license, never kissed a boy, like all, you know, just a teenager. And so it was a really, really tough build up and my first race, the 400 I am, I was so nervous that I just didn't breathe like in the ready room. I had imposter syndrome. I thought, what am I doing here? I'm I'm on the team with people that I'd had their poster on my wall the year before. Like, it was just a swirling, perfect storm of disaster and just not feeling enough.

And my first race, I just ran out of gas and the pain was so great that I promptly got out, threw up all over the pool deck in front of millions of people on NBC. And it's like, have you guys ever had that moment where you like, jolt up in bed and you're like, God, that was a nightmare. Like before something big or just like when you're stressed out, this would be the nightmare that I would have with throwing up in front of millions of people. But it was my actual reality. And I, I always say I'm, I'm now. So it sounds crazy, but grateful for that moment because I failed really big at 15 years old on a very public way.

And I got back up from it, you know, And so I call it my fail big armor, where I really don't shy away from big goals or dreams or taking risks because I'm like, well, it's not going to be throwing up in front of millions of people. So I'm going to get up. I have that strength. And I always tell people like, OK, going for something, a big goal is really scary. But the worst that happens is that you fall on your face and then you prove to yourself that you can get back up. Or the best that happens is you accomplish it, which I've done that too, and you achieve all your hopes and dreams.

So you really don't have a negative going for it. And I'll talk about this a little bit later, but you almost everybody I would say has people around, have people around them. I call it my trust tree that are going to pick them back up. And as long as you're willing to be vulnerable and let those people pick you back up, your colleagues, your teammates, your family, your spouse, whoever that may be your friends, you have to accept the help you will get back up. So if if you're sitting there going, but I don't know if I could get back up, you can.

Everyone can. It's just depending on people and being vulnerable enough to ask for that help. Now this has a a good ending. So 2004 happened. It was really make or break of OK. Like do I prove that I'm not just a flash of the pan? Can I do this? And I basically sat down with my coach and, and I, I can't show you the video, but I'm we're going to send it out after. But I sat down with him and he was like, why are you so terrified of this race, this 400?

I am the race that I still have the American record in the oldest American record on the books. And I just, I just, I just so much strategy. It's so painful. Like I just, it scares me to my core. He's like, but you've done sets over again, like you do 10,000 meters in a practice, which like 6 miles. Imagine running 6 miles and how hard that is, but then doing it in the pool and he's like, I've got it. We're going to do a set so hard that's going to make the 400 I am look like a walk in the park.

And I was like, OK, I don't feel like I love that, that solution, but he's like, no, I, I you need this is about you mentally conquering. This has nothing to do with the physical. And he's like, on top of that, you're not going to know when we're going to do it. Like you're just going to have to come into practice that day and react and be ready. And you guys have now known me for 28 minutes. Like I am not, I am a planner. I am type AI need to know what's ahead. Like I am not a go with the flow type gal at all.

Maybe you've gotten that from just the way I talk, but I that was like a a death wish for me to hear him say that. And but that's what happened. He made me wait 3 1/2 weeks of every single day, sometimes twice a day coming in being like today's the day. You can see by the look on your in your eye like today's the day. No, finally one Friday morning it was like rainy. It was like a movie like just this like foreshadowing and the set was absolute hell. Most of you are majority of you are not summersed.

Probably all of you are not summersed, but it was essentially 6 miles. It was 10,000 meters and it ended in an 800. I am for time double my race. I was in the gutter like I was wheezing like I It was to this day one of the most painful 3 hours of my life. But I did it and proved to myself that I can conquer this thing and to me conquering it. I said right after the 2004 Olympic Games was breaking the world record. And so if I had the video, it'd be a very like big dramatic showing up of this of this world record.

But essentially I went to World Championships in 2007 at the Rod Labour Arena, which is so sick because they basically are now able to take pools and put them in other sports arena. So Olympic trials. Last year the Olympic trials were in the Colt Stadium in Indy, which was sick. I've swum in the Canseco Field House, which is the basketball arena in Indy. This was in where they have the Australian Open for tennis. They pop a 50m pull down. So it's just really, really cool.

And I won the event formed and I am by 5 seconds, which in swimming is a long time and broke the world record. And it was just this three years late three-year journey, but I finally conquered this race that had conquered me in 2004. And it's truly the fail big armor like it, you know, I, I was able to come back, fight back, punch the forge. I am in the face. And I'm sure many of you sitting there, I'm sure all of you sitting there have have had things that have come across your plate, whether it's personal, whether it's at work, whether it's family, that that really is devastating, right?

And it hurts you to your core. And I think I've seen people lay down after that and think I can't get back up. But if you flip the perspective and the lens on it and say, OK, like this just gave me an extra armor. Like this is just a little chink in my armor. And I and I have this, you know, this protective layer. Now you can you can get up back up from anything. And I've seen mentors of mine go through it. And to me, I think the people that I'm most inspired by are the people that can talk about that.

I think the people that sit there and say like, I've accomplished all these things and you know, here is my highlight reel, like every single successful human being has failed big. And so I just encourage you guys to fail big because it's, it's a win, win on both sides. So leveraging the pain, this goes off of really what I, I just mentioned, but I think it's so easy and for me, so easy to get caught in a hole of despair when bad things happen. And when I was making my comeback for 2016 Rio games, I was loving the process. Like I was really owning my training.

I was older, I was more mature, You know, at this point I'm, you know, 23 years old, still a baby when I look back, but I I'm now this mature athlete and everything was going perfect. I was living in Miami. I was engaged to my fiance, my now husband and life. Just those you curved balls in those moments, right? As we all know, and I'm sorry, I'm coming off of a cold so apologize, but I basically, I didn't even know what a pulmonary embolism was, but I flew from Miami to California to swim at the national championships, which is like a big prep meet for World Championships and then the Rio Olympic Games.

And I had this really intense pain in my rib area. And I thought that's weird. I didn't do anything intense like do I haven't pulled muscle? Like what could this be? It essentially progressed in the next 48 hours to be so painful that I couldn't even take an air and I passed out. Still one of the, I mean, the pain of that moment, I, I didn't know what was wrong with me. I had such fear, like, am I going to be OK?

And essentially went seven weeks undiagnosed. Thought I was crazy, thought I, I, you know, I feel like I'm in a really tough Olympic athlete. What's going on? And finally, finally fought for a diagnosis and found out that I had two blood clots in the bottom of my right lung and makes sense why I could not breathe. And ultimately it ended up causing me to retire. Just could not, could not get the right training in. I had damage to my lungs because of scar tissue build up because they were in there for almost two months.

I mean, I, I could have died like 100,000 people die a year from a pulmonary embolism. So you guys know anyone or you know the signs and symptoms? It's, it's pretty wild. And the reason I say leverage the pain is I spent about, I would say 2 years feeling sorry for myself, two years where I just couldn't skip the steps. I would say that you can't skip steps. Like you can't just be like, oh, OK, I'm going to go leverage the pain, right? You have to go through the grieving stages of really my identity, right?

I was Katie. Anytime someone said this is Katie the swimmer, KD The Olympian. And to have that go away was really, really painful. And I hear people talk about it all the time, whether it's your kids go off to college and you're no longer like mom or dad or, you know, you switch careers or you retire, whatever that might be. Like our identity as human beings is our point of pride. It's, it's, it's who we are and it's how we feel enough and we how we feel worthy. And I lost that.

It was ripped away from me. And so it took me about two years and I was asked to a 10X talk. And it was the first time that I've been honest about my career. Like I always thought, I have to only share the highlight reel. You know, I have to just talk about the wins and the records. And that's what people want to hear, right? And I took a took a risk. I said, I'm going to share the ugly side too. And I'm going to share the the downs, not just the UPS.

And I got a standing ovation. And it was really the first time I realized, like, wait, we all go through this, You know, it doesn't have to be in the form of going to the Olympics, but we all as humans go through these ups and downs and trials and tribulations and have to be resilient. And I had this kind of like epiphany moment of like, I could, I could use my pain to help other people. And I had no problem putting it out there and being vulnerable. So like, maybe that's my new superpower.

And maybe that's my new extraordinary. And I started doing advocacy work for National Blood Clot Alliance to help raise awareness and raise funds. I wouldn't talked on Capitol Hill and and fought for funding. And it really, I would say when something tough happens, it might take a week, a year, 10 years, hopefully not, but it fully comes back, right? It, it finally makes sense if you keep pushing forward. And for me, getting a blood clot in that moment like this is what happened. Because I'm supposed to now leverage that pain into something helpful to other people.

And that fills up my cup because I'm, I'm able to do that. I'm strong enough to do that. So thinking about your pain, a lot of other people have probably felt what you felt, and whether it's someone close to you or whether it's a stranger on the street, I promise you it'll help make the pain make sense. And it is very, very healing. So I'm due mentality this one. I realized that I learned this at the 2004 Olympic Games, but it took me almost a decade to truly put it into play in my swammer life.

And I think this one, the reason that it's last is because it is the most impactful standard and most life changing thing for me today. And like, why in the hell is there an army ban on on the screen? So in 2004, I, I talked about it being really, really challenging and it it being feeling like a failure. I had, I mean, I had my idol comment and and you know, kind of talk trash on me for the first time I'd ever experienced it. It was devastating. And I idolize this guy named Gary Hall Junior. If you don't know who he is, you should look him up.

He actually just lost all his medals in the Palisades fire and they just gave created them and gave them all back to him like 10A line Olympic medalist gold. Like he is a legend and he is one of the guys that would have like a Cape on. He'd come out behind the blocks. He'd like be shadowboxing. Just such a badass. And we need more personality like that. And I watched him in 2000 and thought he was a superhero. So I'm moping around day one after my 400. I am feeling really bad about myself.

And I remember he was kind of, you know, 20 meters away, getting ready, warming up. His events weren't till later. And he's like Katie. And he, like, motions me over. And I kind of like, looked right, left, like, is he talking to me? And he's like, yeah, come here. You know, I'm 15. He's like 30, so terrified to come over there. And he's like, how you doing? And I'm like, yeah, I'm, I'm OK. And he's like, no, like, how are you doing?

And I was like, not good. And he pulls out and I still have this. I should have brought it by this little army man that looked, it's green, but looked very similar to this. And he's like, I want you to have this. And I was like, OK, it's Gary Hall giving me this thing. I need to act appreciative. But what in the what? And so I, I took it and I was like, thank you so much. And he was like, no, I, I want you to keep this and I want you to look down and I want you to remember that like your time is coming and you're a soldier and like you have fight in you and like keep your head up.

And I was like, oh, like, wow, you know? And I kept it because he was essentially saying, like, trust that you're due. Trust that your success will come and you have to keep moving forward or it won't come. And at 15 years old, right, I, I'm already feeling sorry for myself. I didn't even truly realize the gravity of what he was saying. Not only that, the fact that he had taken time away from his focus at the Olympic Games. He won a gold medal in the 53 that that Olympic Games, by the way, to help out this little 15 year old teammate and, and really make an effort at that moment.

It took him 5 minutes, but what I truly realized was wow, like just, it's just that putting 1 foot in front of the other and the belief, it's just the belief of your due, right? And, and your due. It's, it's, it's statistically impossible to just have bad things continually happen to you for the rest of your life. And I, I watch people sometimes. Where have you been the person or you've heard people say like just can't catch a catch a break. That's so my luck, right? Those people, you know, those people. Or maybe you're sitting there going like, Dang, I am that person.

But I hate hearing that because no, it's bad and unlucky things happen to all of us. Like it is impossible that everything goes perfectly and smoothly. And when it does awesome, like when the flight doesn't delay and you get your car right after and your luggage comes out quickly. Celebrate those moments because that's not always the case. But I think the belief of I'm due really clicked for me not only throughout my career, right? I had to have that belief to pick myself back up after 2004. The next year I broke my first American record, I won Olympic, you know like I I kept putting 1 foot in front of the other.

But where it really has been impactful is my life after and I'm I don't know if you guys have seen the weight of gold or you've heard about the post Olympic Blues, but when I retired after my career really forced retirement from the blood clot, it was I can't even describe you. I was crying every single day. And even after the Ted talk, it's still was like, OK, but like who am I? Like, who am I without competing at the Olympic Games? And it was just, I mean, I went through multiple jobs, like multiple things, like, couldn't find my footing. But the mantra that my husband and I always said to each other, which I realize I learned when I was 15 years old, is hey, I'm due.

Hey, you're due. You know, like, just saying that kind of shakes you and gives you that belief of like, oh, no, OK. Like I, I can't stop one thing before the accomplishment. I think sometimes people just stop right before they're about to breakthrough or right before it's about to happen. So saying that to yourself, just a little tap of like, Nope, I'm due, right? Don't say just my luck. Say no, I'm due because I can't have 17 bad things happen to me. The 18th is going to be it, you know? And so for me, saying I'm due finally led me to, I had a big mentor of mine go to this, basically this.

I mean, called it a retreat because it was really hard, but it's called the Hoffman Process. And it was a seven day, excruciatingly beautiful camp, I'd say. And I worked through a lot of my stuff. And it was because of the belief that no, like I'm right on the cusp of finding my extraordinary again and understanding that all these skills that I learned from being, you know, an Olympian and Olympic medalist are in my heart. I just need to unlock them. And I basically left that seven day retreat called one of my good friends, Missy Franklin, Olympic gold medalist, and said, Hey, do you want to start a podcast?

And she said yes. And I, we now, I went back to Paris Olympics last year and, and had this really full circle incredible moment. But folks, that is my last Olympic Games was in 2008. So I'm telling you all this, you don't need to wait 16 years. But it, it, it, it's one of those things you can't skip steps and you just have to have the belief and it'll ultimately come back around. But I, I, I mean, I said I'm due to my husband three days ago.

I'm due. Everyone has the ability to believe and take steps forward and it will ultimately allow you to have the most success and extraordinary and more importantly, happiness in your lives. And so, you know, I, I really do hope that whether it's one little nugget or 10 Nuggets, you all can take some of my swammer learnings and my swimmer learnings into your own lives so you can be really successful and fulfilled people. So thank you so much for listening to my story. Katie, that was awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much to the audience.

Feel free to, you know, we'll take a couple minutes for Q&A. So feel free to drop any questions into the chat and, and we can have Katie answer those. You know, I have a couple questions that I can kick us off with for a few more minutes and then we, we can, we can wrap up as well. So, OK, this was again, really, really awesome and thank you for sharing and your story and your vulnerabilities with all of us. So underlying your, your pillars that you discussed, right? It's a goal oriented mentality, right? And I think often times we can get caught in the chaos of this.

And I'm curious, this is personal, right? How do you stay balanced as you go to achieve that next that next goal? Yeah, that's tough. And I feel like balance gets brought up a lot when you're talking about chasing a goal. I think this is going to maybe an unpopular opinion. I think if you if what you're going for is a passion enough, you don't really need balance. Like I just felt like in swimming, people would always be like, Oh my God, you must have sacrificed so much. And I'm like, it didn't feel like sacrifice because going to bed early and maybe missing, you know, night out with people just was worth it.

Like I didn't even feel like, oh, I'm like sacrificing, but I will sail. And I've been in this, right, when you're in between your goals and you're trying to find the next thing, I think it's defining, OK, what is this currently helping me do on the way to that goal? Because if you feel like you need a lot of balance when you're doing something you hate. And I've been in jobs where I'm like, this sucks. But when I look back, I'm like, yeah, but that job helped me get XYZ skill that's now helping me in the present. So I think the obvious is like, you know, do things that fill your cup, but I think the the better answer is just find a goal that allows you to not need balance.

1. Makes a lot of sense. Similar. This is a similar question as well, right? And maybe a different phrase of it, but not necessarily balance, but your non negotiables, right? So whether you're chasing a professional goal, right? Do you have personal non negotiables that you won't sacrifice for those goals? Yeah, I think it's kind of really a a savage in the essentials is non negotiables. I think definitely on the physical side, like I always want to get in five workouts a week, whether that's strength training or running cold plunging is a big one.

When I don't do it, I don't feel my best self. And then I think just, you know, quality time with the people that make me laugh. Like it sounds so simple, but I think when I have weeks like that with those routines, I'm able to go after, you know, personal endeavors that much better because mentally I'm in such a good place. And I think those are, I'm sure it'll change when I have kids, but I think for now that's those are my non negotiables without question. OK, OK. We have a a question in in the chat about life after the Olympics, right?

And many athletes talk about that as you can see, right? Can you comment on you know what you felt the most and you know what what you used and what helped to find your next goal? Yeah, I mean, you asked sadness, depression, that I mean, all the above. Like I think again, what I mentioned about like your identity being ripped away and especially like when your career ends, not because you're like, yeah, I'm ready to be done. Mine was because of a blood clot. And so I think first it was like just resentment and anger a lot towards the sport.

And that's why I left the sport for a really long time. And then I think it goes. I definitely anxiety about the future. Am I going to ever be able to feel extraordinary again? That's why I kind of the title is like 5 standards too extraordinary. And I think what helped most to find the next goal is just that I'm due mentality like putting 1 foot in front of the other, finding, finding I guess a positive in the moments where maybe you're in a job that you just don't like.

OK, I look back, I had a entry level sales job because I didn't want to be in the swimming world. And I know like sales, everyone should learn sales. Like it just helps you be a better person in in the world. I think it's such as it's such an important skill set. And so while I hated it in the moment, it helped me get to the next goal and the next goal. And so I think just believing that like you have to put 1 foot in front of the other and you'll get there.

But yeah, I had a lot of years where I was like, what am I doing? Am I ever going to feel good again? And I just kept moving forward, not skipping steps. Yeah, makes sense. So we'll we'll take a couple more. There's a question about goal setting, which can be a challenge for a lot of people. Do you have any advice on you know the actual you know this question is about the actual sitting down and putting pen to paper on writing your goals or setting your goals. Yeah, I think everyone is different.

I mean, I am such AI was such a data girl, meaning there are some people that I know that we're just like, you know what? I just have to know the belief and like I'm affirming that I'm awesome and I'd be like, no, no, no, I need to prove it to myself. So I had goal times down to the 100th of a second, the splits that I needed to to accomplish that, the paces I needed to go and practice. I had goals for every single whether it's kick pull, nutrition, like I was very about that. Some people that might be a lot, but I think it helps you really control what you can control and leave each day knowing how it went.

Like it's so unmotivating to end a day and be like, was today a good day? Was it a bad day? Like you don't. To be floating in the universe is my greatest fear. And so I think being able to have an understanding of that is really important because the Olympics happen every four years, World Championships happen every year, a full year, a full 12 months. And so breaking down big goals, it sounds so cliche, but I don't think enough people do that into daily, weekly, monthly goals makes it just feel that much more tangible to be able to accomplish.

And so I leaned on mentors. I leaned on friends, coaches, parents. Don't ever do it alone. Look at someone who's done it or reach out again. It requires that vulnerability a little bit that I think people are scared to say, hey, I don't know how to do this right, but do that because then eventually one day you can be that person, but write it down and make it tangible. Yeah, great. Well, we've got one more question, maybe then we can we can wrap it up, which is what is keeping you motivated to to train and keep training and you know, what's your next goal.

Yeah, I would say, well this is goes back to, I promise I would address the pull up question. So I decided that I mentioned that these pools are in these like football and tennis arenas. And it's crazy. And so with the podcast, we've, you know, we're at Olympic trials. We were in Paris. And so I thought, how cool would it be to have a baby pop out a baby and come back and not make the Olympic team? But I had a couple Olympic teammates that did this last time make Olympic trials cut.

So a qualifying time to be at the meet, which is still really hard, but just go to an Olympic Trials, enjoy. And so I'm going to, I'm getting back in the swimming a little bit and I'll have to do pull ups again. And so that's really my next motivation is swimming actually an off event, but swimming the 100 brush stroke at Olympic Trials in 2028 and just being there, enjoying having my baby in the stands. Watch me do it. Well, that's an amazing goal and I think that's a perfect place to to wrap up our, our session today.

So best of luck with that goal. We'll be cheering you on from over here. And thank you so much for for joining us today and thank you all for tuning in. You know, a big shout out to our partnership with with All Day Running Co, an amazing company that allows us to do these things for everybody. Be on the lookout for our next webinar, which is going to be in September. And Katie, again, thank you so much for sharing your story with us and hope everyone has a great day. Take care. Thank you so much.

Bye.